While Spike tried to figure out which alternate dimension he had ended up in, where Xander Harris had long hair, a beard and fashion sense, he wandered around the apartment and looked at things. It was a fairly nice flat, nothing special but not a dump. There were no girly things in the place at all so it was obvious he lived alone.

Spike picked up the photo album that had fallen to the floor when he pulled Alex out of his chair. It was full of pictures of the scoobies. "Well at least that hasn't changed." Spike sat down on the sofa and began looking through the book. He noticed right off that the pictures of Xander were pictures of the boy he remembered, not the wookie currently lying dead on the floor.

"So what the hell is this all about then?" Spike had considered leaving, going out and seeing what was what, but he decided he'd be best served by staying put, for now at least. He needed answers before running off half-cocked.

Things were strange here, he couldn't find anything he recognized on the telly, the telly itself was odd to begin with. It was thin and mounted on the wall. There were over five hundred channels and nothing familiar on at all. Not even a footie match. Spike did manage to find some beer in the fridge so he brought it out to the living room and sat on the sofa. He opened one of the cans and looked at the body again.

"Jesus mate, you really let yerself go didn't ya? Can't have that now can we?" Spike got up and went into the bathroom, he rummaged around in the medicine chest and finally found what he was looking for, a pair of scissors and a package of disposable razors.

Spike plopped himself down on the floor and looked at Alex. "You don't mind if I fix you up a bit now do ya, mate? I get bored right easy and yer dead and all, so why not eh?"

For the next couple hours, Spike amused himself by trimming and shaving Alexs' face, and cutting his hair. When he was finished he compared it to the pictures in the album. Spike had purposely left the hair a little longer than Xander had usually worn his. He sat back and admired his work.

"How is it that you don't look a day older than you do in those piccies, yet your hair looks like you'd been growing it fer years?" Spike rubbed his head and thought about it. He was getting as crazy as Dru, playing with dead bodies, talking to 'em even. "Bloody hell, what the hell have I gotten myself into this time?" Spike cleaned up the hair off the floor as he talked to himself.

Spike secured the windows in the apartment and flopped back down on the couch. He left Alex propped against the recliner and turned the TV back on. He flipped around for a while, finally leaving it on a channel that was playing a soft core porn movie. He watched as he drank the beer and tried to figure what to do next. He couldn't stay here, the body would start to smell soon not to mention that someone would come looking for him sooner or later. Spike fell asleep before he had made any real plans on what his next move would be.

When Alex woke up his neck was sore and so was his back. He stood slowly and stretched out his stiff muscles. He looked over at the vampire sleeping on his couch and wondered who it would be when he woke up. Alex stiffly made his way to the bathroom to relieve himself, one of the more unpleasant things about still being basically human. When he was finished he washed his hands and then looked up into the mirror.

"Spike! You undead asshole! You cut my fuckin hair?!" Alex ran out to the living room and pounced on the vampire on his couch. When blue eyes opened in shock, Alex waited for the vampire to speak before he ended up punching Wil instead of Spike. "What the fuck?! You're dead!"

Alex grinned and then hauled off and punched Spike full in the face. He climbed off of him and said. "Well so are you. Why the fuck did you cut my hair, Spike? I could have lived with out the beard, but I really liked the hair!"

Spike just gaped at Alex, he didn't know what the hell was going on. He could see the twin puncture marks in the boys neck, he knew it was the same Xander he killed the night before, but he didn't understand how. "Your dead" he whispered again. "I killed you."

Alex stopped and looked at the distraught vampire, his anger at losing his hair melted away at the look of confusion on Spikes face. He reminded Alex very much of Wil at that moment. Alex slowly aproached Spike and crouched in front of him. "Yes I was and yes you did. Thanks for that by the way, you know I really hate being vamp chow. Of all the ways to die, next to being fried by lightning that has to be the worst."

Spike continued to look at Alex funny. "Xander?" Spike asked as if it were somehow not true. Alex smiled. "I haven't been Xander in a very long time Spike, it's Alex now. Would you like me to tell you a story? It may take a while, and you won't like the ending, but I think you need to hear it."

Spike nodded and sat back on the couch. What he was about to hear was not going to be pretty. Alex just hoped that what ever was happening to the vampire, that Wil was okay and would come back to him. Alex began his story, "Well it all started about thirty years ago, the day Tara died......"